(by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager)
Main draw places on offer, United States excels

Places in the main draw of the Cadet Boys’ Singles and Cadet Girls’ Singles events at the 2018 Canadian Junior and Cadet Open in Markham at stake on Wednesday 30th May, in both disciplines there were surprise names that ended the day in first positions in the group stage.

Moreover, with the exception of the host nation’s David Xu, it was players from the United States who excelled expectations.

David Xu beat Aditya Godhwani of the United States, the no.5 seed (11-6, 4-11, 11-4, 11-5), to remain unbeaten and secure first place in his Cadet Boys’ Singles group; for Aditya Godhwani it was his only reverse, thus second position was reserved.

Likewise in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event Sid Naresh and Mudit Mahajan both remained unbeaten to top their respective groups. Pride of place went to Sid Naresh who beat Costa Rica’s Alfredo Sanchez, the top seed (11-8, 11-13, 11-4, 11-1); Mudit Mahajan accounted for Devesh Hukmani of Belize, the no.7 seed (12-10, 11-7, 11-3).

Alas for Alfredo Sanchez it was to be third place in the group, Jayden Zhou concluded matters in second spot; for Devesh Hukmani the outcome was even bleaker. He finished in fourth place with second spot being secured by Canada’s Sunny Zhang.

Meanwhile, in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event, a competition in which also first and second positions reserved main draw places, the players to shine were Sabrina Zhu and Lavanya Maruthapandian.

Both remained unbeaten to top their respective groups; Sabrina Zhu accounted for Canada’s Benita Zhu, the top seed (11-9, 11-7, 11-4), Lavanya Maruthapandian overcame Poland’s Emilia Skuba, the no.6 seed (11-4, 11-9, 12-10).

It was for Benita Zhu her only defeat, for Emilia Skuba, there was also defeat at the hands of Canada’s Ivy Bao (11-8, 11-7, 11-6), thus it was third place in the group with second position finishing in the hands of Ivy Bao.

In the remaining Cadet Boys’ Singles groups, as anticipated it was first place for Canada’s Edward Ly and Edison Huang, as it was for Peru’s Joel Cisneros and Russia’s Alexey Perfilyev.

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